The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1887-07-31
KINGS COUNTY FARMING.
PROFITS MADE FROM THE soIL CLOSE
UPON TIE CITY,S BORDER.

| Farmer Ehununro'n Legacy OF EtUnty Acres
| Tho Money In CabbaEos-Cost or Lsber
| and ferttlizers-The Market Gardeners.
A passenger on any OF the Coney Island
| railroads. when passing though the vegetable
| Wilderness OF Kings county will mover fail to
| observe tho pleasant succession OF park-lIke
groves which are spread out In every direction.
| He will SEQ also many dwellings that are sus-
| Eestively pastoral In their appearance. But
| he will sec others. again, that look decidedly
monorolistic." with their broad verandas,
| columns. bay and aerial windows and ornate
\ roofs. II not to the manor born and familiar
with the customs OF the suburbs. he will be
| likely to think the groves the neglected enr
closures OF some land monopolist." the hum.
Bile dwellings tho cottages OF the market gar.
| deners. and the more pretentious structures
! the homes Of opulent tradesmen from the city.
/ But he will BIZ generally mistaken II he In
! dulges in any such conception OF the county
through which lie is passing. The wood land
and the great houses are only the signs thas
the era OF largo farms has not vet passed
| away. even on the borders OF tho metropolis,
and that many farmers living within cannon
| shot OF the City Hall yet afford to In
| dulge in the luxury Of something very suggss-
tive OF private parks, and to live externally In
style Of quite patrician elegance. ,..:5.
During the dog days, and especially during
: sucn unhappy dog days as the current summer
has furnished, addicted with veGttable attack
OF ruhes, the lot of the Kings county farmer
motropoils the attainment OF a perfected Nir-
yana. Almost within hail OF The great city,
Wnien we an know now 70 appreciats Wneh tnS
going t. sleep with thu sun. he ID yet rural ana
retired IN all mis- SURROUNDINGS; True. ne must
smiii boy from Brooklyn is ubiquitous; and u
I can nardly nave escapeu observation that there
! is no such brand OF apples Us New Lots pip
| pins known upon the market. There is q mel-
| anohoiy absence OF fruit trees all through
that they have been obliged to cut down vaiI.
able trees inherited from their forefathers to
sa s Is ony one n the shorns
| Ing upon the stem OF a very fragrant and beau-
tilul rose. The Kings county farmer may en-
10y all the yea round the alternate rural. sea-
| coast and metropolitan Life which the ruraiist
OF the interior can only indulge by becoming
nomadic, and pulling longer purse strings
But from the ma.Ssia! i and ~, worldly point Of
i Is 1he lis 20
| West, given by Horace Greeley. was, not quite
m, ae sb QUE bssotne farmor ana keep Uut 81
| Congress. after he had gone West. The advice
should have been rather to 20 TO Flatlands
Sgy the Ss
sows wheat and reaps, perhaps, TWENTY-FIVE
ordinarily good prices will not bring moro than
$50. and must frequently be sold at very much
ground S sowing. isrtiiizns' harvesting thresR:
ing: and marketing must 30 Deducted. and 4
f ~ ws sus for h bis SnsD soSn1
Snd AZ IL season ss, s Sny SsdnSFy iavSTsSs
Sum Oq tSs viii X o ss WORTH dda i pso
ss other t5e viii stiff
he plants an acre to cabbages. Ten thousand
aas Of Ss sSaS
known to blossom on single acre OF Kings
county soil and q per s. a.,
Raps.' would s Be- an excessive Yield Eight thou
sand heads would be o safer number on which
even the latter number would still bring $40,
a%ss ei1sF these
are enough to make the mouths OF the grain
growing farmers Of the Wes, ., water. True; the
happens to live within reasonable distance q
harvesting his own APPLES. But Ms resources
sources Of the Long Island truck farmer.
AS to the cost Of conducting Kings county
accuracy Take the representative farm at Flat
lands on the Manhattan Beach kairoad. about
MILF rb East Msx aSr Il Ss a by
holds 1t by lineal Inheritance through several
generations OF ancestors, and may be supposed
all over, is coeyal with the century. The visitor
rooms. and iancies he hears the hum Of .
ghostly spinning wheel, and the rustiipE Of the
IN ths dase ahe oi
eighty acres, and its cultivation costs the labor
! OF about twenty hands who receive In wages
at the highest rates, with board, $40 per month.
| But a considerable number OF these employees
TheTe are also four good market wagons sss a.
solid and substantial as $3.50 will buy, and
very constantly at work. either on tho farm or
| on the road, marketing products or hauling
ma Thsy must 1s ssa fea an
T. pastaiass. Added 70 thls the,s i the iRei:
IS estimated at $50 Per acre These are tie tie
three chief items Of expenditure.
To reach an estimate OF cost We must con-
slider that twenty hands on an eighty aero farm
gives tarm hand TO each four acres. But IL
farm. Not more than sixty acres may be
planted 70 vegetables In any season and this
s ate a three be
pended in board, would have to be deducted
We're his entire cost $50 per month. for a sea-
s5o making the total cost Of LABOR $50 acre.
Ihs estimate makes the cost Of Labor and
IL the amount must be added Tor each acre se's
proportional share OF the cost of keeping
eiEht horses, the cost OF repairing broken farm
Implements and other incidental expenses,
which will always be found largo enough. But
the total cost will fab worry far below the total
of 81 so to be realized from acre OF potatoes.
Yet potatoes are apparently among the least
profitable OF all the vegetables grown. and are
only saved from banishment from the truck
farms by their trick OF getting out OF the way
in July and leaving the ground for some quick
growing second crop which will add largely to
the profits.
You would suppose that with these factoring
| figures for u basis there would be m eAtraor-
binary demand for farm lands in Kings county.
and in all parts OF Long Island that are near
| enough to the city for truck farming. The de-
mand is indeed, large. though not quite large
enou2h to Justify secession from the Catholic
| Church. Most Catholics would rather be good
Catholics than market gardeners, or even truck
farmers. But the demand is somewhat larger
| than the supply. The farms in Kings county
run from about forty up to one hundred acres
IN extent. They are cultivated sometimes by
their owners, sometimes by tenants holding an
entire farm on single lease. and sometimes
they are divided up among number OF ten.
as market Gardeners The latter class Is COM